


blossoming alone, blossoming together

by bloodylotus



Category: SK8 the Infinity (Anime)
Genre: Drunken Kissing, Friends With Benefits, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, a painful amount of love and yearning, posting this unbetaed to surprise the matchablossom discord, theyre on vacation!!!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-10
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-17 01:54:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29959203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bloodylotus/pseuds/bloodylotus
Summary: Thick Texas heat parted as the sun tucked into the horizon, leaving the world warm and singing the song of wayward cicadas awake for the season. The moon was at the height of its cycle full and round where it hung among midnight blue and the pinprick stars. It was a perfect night for drinking, just short of halfway through their vacation, and so Kaoru had brought practically the entire mini bar with them to the abandoned pool.
Relationships: Nanjo Kojiro | Joe/Sakurayashiki Kaoru | Cherry Blossom
Comments: 2
Kudos: 58





	blossoming alone, blossoming together

**Author's Note:**

> i was devastated to find out that the matchablossom travel zine was art only and refused to let that stop me!!! 
> 
> (this could probably be rated T but i prefer to rate carefully)

Thick Texas heat parted as the sun tucked into the horizon, leaving the world warm and singing the song of wayward cicadas awake for the season. The moon was at the height of its cycle full and round where it hung among midnight blue and the pinprick stars. It was a perfect night for drinking, just short of halfway through their vacation, and so Kaoru had brought practically the entire mini bar with them to the abandoned pool. 

They’d gone down without changing into their bathing suits, thinking that they’d just sit by the water and talk until they were too tired to go on. That was how it had always gone, there was an oddly sentimental value in leaning on each other in the elevator on the way back to their shared room- it was a fond overlap, something that happened no matter where they traveled.

But then the water had looked so pretty, and Kaoru just wanted to put his feet in, and then he was waist deep and shivering. There was no way in hell Kojiro could let him be cold and alone in the water. So they kicked and splashed and played like children in the shallow water until they were both soaked completely through. Then they laughed about it. 

They laughed until their stomachs hurt, dizzy from the alcohol and high on the rush of not being home. Everything was easier when it was just the two of them in a world that briefly belonged to only them. When they fell together, there was no more pain, no more loss, no more heartache. There was just Kojiro and Kaoru and the delicate relationship they trampled every time one of them reached too far. It was bliss.

“What do you want?” Kojiro asked, mouth worshipping the chemical sharp skin of Kaoru’s throat. His teeth left fading red marks and soft love bites, careful not to bite too hard when they were strung together by a few drinks and wandering hands. It’d be worth the rush of satisfaction, but not the shame. Kaoru wasn’t something he wanted to possess- that was what made everything hard when it came to him. 

There was no matter of lustful guilt when they fell together, just a steady need and want that ebbed and flowed with Kaoru’s tumultuous relationship with patience. The time they spent wrapped up in one another had never felt like a string of mistakes executed out of loneliness and desperation. The same way they’d fallen into each other when they were kids, the step from sleeping together to _sleeping together_ was taken without effort or bloodshed. The intimacy was mutually desired, mutually needed, and mutually destructive.

Kaoru was lonely and reeling as he got his feet underneath him, and Kojiro wanted stability as he took the first steps toward the rest of his life. In the afterglow, they prodded back and forth about selfishness and blame, plagued by comfort and affection. Once, on his way out the front door, Kaoru had apologized for taking advantage of their friendship, and Kojiro had promised that no such thing had happened. The forlorn expression he received in return was too heartwrenching to be allowed; he kissed Kaoru against the porch railing until their mouths were swollen and words were reduced to mindless giggles. Of all things, being able to make Kaoru smile and giggle had felt the best.

Kojiro’s heart had always been, to its own detriment, in the exact right place. 

“This.” Kaoru told him with no other effort to clarify, head tipped back to watch the stars and fingers tangled into Kojiro’s hair to guide him to and fro. His head rested on the smooth cement lip of the pool, his own hair acting as a natural cushion for his neck. The mid-July breeze rattled the chain fence around the pool, and he murmured into it, “You.”

Sighing against his skin, Kojiro tried again. “What don’t you want?” He allowed Kaoru time to answer, mouthing over goosebumps and catching his fingertips on the rough texture of sodden denim. It was a comforting sound to hear him exhale softly, as if he was really thinking about it. 

Even when he lifted his head from its resting place, Kaoru didn’t speak, unraveling his fingers from Kojiro’s hair as carefully as he could with fumbling hands and little coordination. His mouth was parted, a peek of pink in the night. He was beautiful no matter the lighting, no matter the context, but he was the most beautiful when he looked happy. And a Kaoru in comfortable control was a happy Kaoru indeed.

He watched Kojiro with eyes like molten gold, hands moving through the water like molasses down his sides to pull him closer by his belt loops. “Just tell me when.” 

Kaoru didn’t wait for an answer, tongue wetting his lips before they snuffed out any attempt by Kojiro to tell him that there wouldn’t be a ‘when’. He kissed away the confession that nothing would ever be enough, and nothing would ever be too much. And Kojiro let him, knowing there was no easy way to talk about heavy feelings, not with their history. It was so much easier to put vocal communication on the backburner and focus on how good it felt to have someone to want and be wanted by. 

Years of learning one another made it easy to fall into a happy back and forth. Kaoru licked into his mouth with no resistance, tongue tasting like the vibrant drinks they’d shared; Kojiro savored the taste even more when it came from Kaoru’s mouth. Cherry wine and peach liqueur mingled between their lips, sweet enough to make their teeth ache. It was the taste of young love and summer nights, of wanting everything and never having enough. 

Kojiro was pliable as could be, moving without goading when Kaoru chose to back him up against the wall. Their height difference wasn’t overwhelming by any means, but it was enough to justify extorting the warped gravity underwater to hook both legs over Kaoru’s waist. There was no need for him to brace himself on the edge, held up just fine by the lithe and well maintained muscle Kaoru hid under his yukata. 

Lung capacity drove them apart, gasping for air and holding one another tighter as if there were waves that could separate them. When he couldn’t kiss Kaoru’s lips anymore, Kojiro looked for something else to appreciate, prodding his tongue against the barely visible scar under his lip where there was once a silver hoop. He kissed the soft skin under his jaw, trailed it up to bruise his earlobe on the right side. Anything to hear his name over the crickets chirping and water sloshing.

Kaoru’s mouth fell open with a soft sound that made the muscles in Kojiro’s stomach tighten, and he sucked on the chlorine tacky skin until it was blotchy red. Deft fingers returned to his hair, stroking it encouragingly, tugging his head back, skirting his ear to hold him in place. When Kaoru kissed his mouth again, it was vindictive and starved. His teeth bore down on Kojiro’s lower lip, then his tongue soothed the sting, vinegar before honey. He still tasted like peaches and vodka, and it should have been an unpleasant taste. But it wasn’t. Not at all.

“When.” Kojiro used his size to his advantage, gathering Kaoru in his arms to drag him to the incline where the pool began. He laid him out like a piece of fine artwork, crowding over him for the best view. 

Kaoru stared up at him, eyes seeking constellations in the freckles under Kojiro’s eyes; his hands lifted far enough to cradle his face, thumbs tracing over each and every one. His gaze was nothing if not reverent, and his body shifted to accommodate the new position without thought. Knees bracketing Kojiro’s hips, he dropped his arms with a feeble splash to stretch like an upturned cat. Even then, he was the most divine thing in view, blossoming in the water like a vine of moonflowers constricting his heart.

“Am I blocking your view of the stars?” Kojiro asked, fully prepared to tease.

Thunder rumbled in the far distance, lightning lit the sky, and he realized that the stars had long hidden in preparation for the storm. Rational thought was slower than impulse, but they’d get out of the pool soon. They couldn’t finish what they started outside, anyways. Some risks were worth taking, and there was nothing fun about getting into legal trouble worlds away from home.

“No.” Kaoru replied after rolling his eyes hard enough to knock something loose. “I like this one much better.”

And then he dropped his impassive expression, showing a lopsided smile full of crooked teeth and blistering warmth. His posture melted into the tile, wet hair shining where the moon peeked from behind the clouds like raw rhodonite and cheeks flushed so vividly he could have been a painting. And held up by just his wobbly elbows, Kojiro free-fell in love with him all over again.

**Author's Note:**

> my writing style kinda reeks please lmk if this is like. unreadable or if my transitions are super jarring >.<


End file.
